FCC confirms 30% cable bar

The US FCC has issued the formal notice confirming MSOs will be barred from a market a national market share higher than 30 per cent of multichannel subscribers. The FCC says it wanted to make sure no cable operator or group of operators could “impede the flow of programming to its consumers” because of its size.

The commission also said it will continue to count satellite and other competitors in calculating the cable cap. But it will not count the Internet, mobile phones, or video rentals, it added.

Only nation’s largest cable operator Comcast, is close to that figure at about 27 per cent of multichannel-video subscribers, and has said it will appeal the rule.